Disney Cannonball

[Zippy_D_DooDah]

I have a friend at work who wants to basically attempt to pull off a Disney Cannonball Run. We were talking the other day and I think it would be fun. We would leave Atlanta at midnight and get to WDW around 6:00am or 7:00am. Grab a one day hopper (I have a annual pass); strategically hit all the parks to ride all of favorite thrill rides; then leave about 5:00p or 6:00p to head back to Atlanta and get home around Midnight or 1:00am. Has anyone ever tried this? The more I ponder this, the more it sounds like something I would have done 15 years ago while in college. I wonder if I would be able to hang on this kind of trip.

[septembergirl]

Will you have any down time after you get back? It sounds fun but exhausting and I wouldn't attempt unless I knew I could rest up for a couple of days afterward.

[mickeys_princess]

I say GO FOR IT!!!!! If we lived any closer I would definitely attempt it!! :woohoo: :mickey:

[Main Street Jim]

Well...considering the parks don't open until 9:00am...then travel time between parks (at least 45 minutes to an hour)...you *might* be able to hit only one or two rides in each park to leave by 5 or 6...just my opinion...

[AwPhooey]

I agree with Jim. Instead of leaving at midnight, maybe you could leave at 3:00 am and get to the parks when they open. That way, you could add three hours to the end of the day when parks are still open.

Other than that, it sounds like fun to me! :mickey:

[Quasimodo]

I don't recommend doing this. You might be able to pull it off time wise, but the drive back home would be very risky. It is so easy to fall asleep at the wheel at night when you're very tired. And you will be tired after driving down and spending a day in the parks. Even if you don't fall asleep, your reaction time slows down when you're tired. It is very similar to driving drunk. If you do do this, at the very least, have a "Plan B" to stop at a motel if you get too tired.

Also, keep in mind that there is construction on I-75 in south Georgia that slows the traffic down considerably. And the section of I-75 between Valdosta, GA and Lake City, FL is subject to closure due to smoke from wild fires.

[Zippy_D_DooDah]

Plan A was to drive in shifts since there could possibly be about four of us going. Everyone else could nap while one drives and we could switch off whenever the diver gets sleepy.

Plan B... (the one I like) was to use some of my points and grab a studio at OKW for the night. Then we could essentially do two days. I know it wouldn't be a "there in back in 24 hours," but I would rather spend an entire weekend at Disney.

*Change of Subject*
I hope the Ga/Fl wildfires are contained soon. As you can probably see being that you are in Lawrenceville, we have smoke all over Atlanta today. Our next trip isn't until September (if we don't pull the cannonball) and I really want a smooth ride. The past few times we have gone 75 to the Turnpike to The Western Beltway. I hope it's all cleared up by September.

[Quasimodo]

Yeah, the smoke was bad here today. We are going down this Friday. So I hope it doesn't cause us any problems. We also go 75 to the Turnpike, then take the 429 toll road to the Western Way. I like 429. Its almost empty of any traffic when we travel on it. Plus you can see parts of WDW from it! :mickey:

[Zippy_D_DooDah]

I love the Western Beltway, but when we drove down this past December, it was early morning and we had thick fog from the Turnpike toll booth all the way into WDW. We coudn't even see the Western Way sign until we were right up on it. It finally started to burn off when we turned onto West Buena Vista. (I've totally hijacked my own post with a different topic... I'm pretty good at doing that on other posts, unintensionally of course.)

Back to the main topic: we have secured a fourth office nut for the trip. We will most likely leave around 2:00am on a Saturday morning and stay Saturday Night at OKW. Exactly when we will do this is still up in the air. The rest of my summer schedule is pretty packed. Our next week long trip is in September, so maybe in August.

[LilOrmstonViolet38]

i would totally go for it... than again as you put in your first post, i'm more willing cuz i just graduated college :) i talked about going to WDW on a cannonball trip in college however unlike you we were no where near close enough, and going to a priivate college none of us had enough money to really impliment the plan... stupid gas prices... in fact if my now husband would ever say we could do it, i would just to say i did! but with a 22hr drive (without stops) it would be a two day event! as long as you are comfortable with the driving shifts it sounds great... and the staying one night sounds brilliant... you can still get enough rest to not be fully tired on the way home... amazing!

[psychotekkie]

Yeah! I'm so happy for you! 2-day trip will be awesome, and then you can do a 2-park per day deal (I would say do MK and Epcot on different days, paired with AK or MGM). you will have a blast. Better plan it right away so that your weekends don't all get booked up with other stuff. This is a must do!

[ghost999]

if you pull it in 24 hrs. then you have got to tell us what all you did to actually see if you did it very well. i say that because you could just go and do maybe 1 or 2 rides and not really be good, OR you could do maybe 5-6 rides and be known for a while. :mickey:

[tigger24601]

and i don't recomend doing it again. 3 years ago dm, dsis, and myself tried doing this. we are in the ft. lauderdale/miami area. we left at like 6am to meet up with some friends. we did all day during spring break left at 10pm or 11pm to head home. i had driven up so my dsis was to drive back. we were all so exhausted she only drove 30 minutes before we had to pull over. my mother ended up driving the rest of the way with many stops so that she could get out to wake herself up and drive a little more. i was 21 and dsis was 19. we weren't in college but we were college age and couldn't do it.

[katzctkpt]

Plan B sounds like the better plan. I can't see you riding more than 2 rides at each park within your window time frame. 2 yrs ago our plan was check out go to the park leave around 2 to drive home to WV within 2 hrs of leaving my DH & myself were so tired we ended up staying at a motel that evening.:sleepin:

[irish1967]

Don't forget to take into consideration the summer crowds... You might be able to hit all the parks, but probably not do an "E-Ticket" ride anywhere but the first park...

Not something I would choose to do, but if you and your group would have fun and can do it safely... go for it!